Sony was forced to take down the official PlayStation 4 gameplay trailer for BioWare's new first-person shooter franchise Anthem after receiving massive criticism.
The backlash against the video was because it was a poorly edited version of the gameplay trailer first released at E3 2017, which was running on rival Microsoft's Xbox One X.
Anthem Gameplay Trailer: PlayStation 4 Or Xbox One X?
Developer BioWare provided the first glimpse into the gameplay of Anthem through a trailer that was shown off by Microsoft at E3 2017. While highlighting the visual capabilities of the Xbox One X, the gameplay trailer revealed several things that players can expect from the first-person shooter, including various kinds of exosuits, flying through the air with jetpacks, and teaming up with allies to carry out missions. Anthem looks very similar to Bungie's Destiny, but with BioWare behind the shooter, players may expect a heavy focus on storytelling.
It was not unusual for developers to release the same gameplay trailer for various platforms, so when Sony uploaded an identical video to the PlayStation channel on YouTube, many gamers believed that it was just the same demo running on the PlayStation 4.
However, that was not the case. Viewers noticed that the video was edited to overlay PlayStation 4 buttons on the Xbox One buttons originally included in the trailer.
Editing the buttons is not a massive issue on its own, as it has been previously used in gameplay footage from other titles. The backlash that Sony received is due to the fact that the Anthem gameplay trailer from E3 2017 was running on the more powerful Xbox One X, raising allegations that Sony wanted to make it appear that the game looked just as good on the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 4 Pro.
Sony Takes Down Edited Gameplay Trailer
It remains unclear whether the edited Anthem gameplay trailer being passed off as PlayStation 4 footage was a shrewd move or an honest mistake, as Sony has not yet issued a comment regarding the matter. The video, however, has been taken down.
There is also the chance that it was Electronic Arts behind the sloppy editing, as the publisher is in charge of all the promotional materials of its games. Even if that would be the case, it is still wrong to pass off gameplay footage on the Xbox One X as that on the PlayStation 4.
Unfortunately for Sony, the edited Anthem gameplay trailer continues its recent run of bad press for the PlayStation 4, mostly surrounding the topics of backward compatibility and cross-platform play.
